Saturday, February 02, 2013

“A report on settlements in the West Bank, the commission of which spurred Israel's decision to cease cooperation with the Council, has just been released. Sadly, the Report entirely vindicates Israel's position on the matter. Its three authors began by determining Israel's guilt, then conducted an investigation into why it was, in fact, guilty. The research was lazy at best – with numerous unreferenced assertions and many very basic factual errors.
Most importantly, they made no effort whatsoever to provide any form of context or balance, or even to acknowledge that some of the allegations they were making were in any way controversial. They simply re-hashed a series of tired and repeatedly debunked accusations against Israel. Whatever legitimate criticisms were made in the report are buried so far down amid layers of unfounded invective as to make them near impossible to find, let-alone act on.
Below is an itemised critique of the Report, highlighting numerous examples of errors and misinformation:”

Waiting for Nobel
The relentless, obsessive focus on Israel is driving the world crazy

"Some, animated by anti-Semitism, use Zionism to express the oldest hatred. Others, overwhelmed by the Holocaust, cleanse their conscience by projecting Europe’s guilt on to the “new Nazis” of Israel. Still others, like the Swedish human rights official, adopt an anti-Israel stance by way of expressing solidarity with the Third World.
What they all have in common is that, at some point, they will have had to overcome (or overlook) a lorry-load of inconvenient truths. Fortunately, Israel remains unaffected. Its economy continues to grow faster than any other industrialised country; its universities remain world-class, as do its orchestras, artists, writers and poets. Its technicians continue to innovate and its scientists continue to win Nobel prizes."

“Progressive” global jihadists and “liberal” Hezbollah leaders are no doubt increasingly depressed about the prospect of having their peaceful acquisition of sophisticated Syrian arms stymied by the belligerent Jewish state."

"During an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Panetta called Iran’s export of manpads — anti-aircraft missiles that can be carried by one person and that pose significant risks to airlines and military planes — an escalation."

"The Qaher is one of several aircraft designs rolled out by the Iranian military since 2007. Tehran has repeatedly claimed to have developed advanced military technologies in recent years but its claims cannot be independently verified because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals."

"Relations between Egypt and Israel deteriorated further this week after an Egyptian attempt to link Israel to the actions of a new opposition group Black Bloc.
The Egyptian prosecutor general now says that a Black Bloc member was captured who was in the possession of an Israeli plan to sabotage fuel companies and vital sites.
Israel called the accusations utterly nonsense."

"The fatwas issued in the year 2012—the year when Islamists, spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood, assumed formal power—are, as one would expect, markedly different, that is, much less restrained. The popular Egyptian Arabic website El-Watan News recently compiled a list of 2012’s most “notable” (a euphemism) fatwas. I translate a summary of their findings below, augmented with additional observations:"

Christians are being driven out of eastern Libya by Muslim fundamentalists, the Catholic Church’s main clergyman in the country told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides.
The situation was “critical” and the “atmosphere very tense” in the Cyrenaica region, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli said in the interview Thursday.

Unofficial statistics suggest that there are some 2,500 indigenous Christians in the nation, practicing their faith underground, even as hostile tribes surround them. According to human rights activist, Abdul Razzaq al-Azazi, “Christians in Yemen cannot practice their religion nor can they go to church freely. Society would work on having them enter Islam.”

Court orders first Hungarian convicted under a Holocaust denial law to visit Auschwitz or Yad Vashem.
The first Hungarian convicted under a new Holocaust denial law has been given a suspended 18-month jail sentence and has to visit Budapest's memorial museum, Auschwitz or Yad Vashem, a court ruled Friday.

Bulgarian media reports Israel to pay monthly stipend to daughter of bus driver killed in terror attack along with 5 Israelis.
Israel has offered to pay a monthly stipend to the daughter of the non-Jewish Bulgarian bus driver killed in a terror attack that targeted Israeli tourists in Burgas in July, the Sofia News Agency reported on Friday.

Water Authority credits desalination advances, more than this year’s remarkably wet winter weather, for country’s new water wealth
"The solution for the longstanding problem comes not from the clouds, which have provided generous amounts of rainfall this winter, but primarily from the sea — and the desalination technology that enables transforming its waters into something you can drink."

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